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The Asian PostThu, 21 Mar 2019 10:39:19 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.6Broadcast costs derail Afghanistan’s proposed Zimbabwe tourhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/broadcast-costs-derail-afghanistans-proposed-zimbabwe-tour/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/broadcast-costs-derail-afghanistans-proposed-zimbabwe-tour/#respondThu, 14 Mar 2019 07:45:06 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=46059HARARE: Afghanistan’s proposed tour of Zimbabwe for five one-day international matches next month has been cancelled because of broadcast costs, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) said. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had asked Zimbabwe Cricket to host the series in Harare to help their team prepare for the World Cup in England. “Although the two boards had ...

HARARE: Afghanistan’s proposed tour of Zimbabwe for five one-day international matches next month has been cancelled because of broadcast costs, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) said.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had asked Zimbabwe Cricket to host the series in Harare to help their team prepare for the World Cup in England.

“Although the two boards had agreed to share the tour expenses, the prohibitive costs of broadcasting the matches live on television – which the ACB was insisting on – unfortunately derailed the proposed series,” ZC said a statement.

Afghanistan have pre-World Cup warm-up ODIs scheduled against Scotland, Ireland, Pakistan and England before they begin their campaign against Australia in Bristol on June 1. Zimbabwe did not qualify for this year’s World Cup.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/broadcast-costs-derail-afghanistans-proposed-zimbabwe-tour/feed/0Taliban leader Omar lived next to US Afghan base: biographyhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/taliban-leader-omar-lived-next-to-us-afghan-base-biography/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/taliban-leader-omar-lived-next-to-us-afghan-base-biography/#respondWed, 13 Mar 2019 06:01:50 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=46000BERLIN: Taliban founder Mullah Omar lived within walking distance of US bases in Afghanistan for years, according to a new book that highlights embarrassing failures of American intelligence. Washington believed the one-eyed, fugitive leader had fled to Pakistan, but the new biography says Omar was in fact living just three miles from a major US ...

BERLIN: Taliban founder Mullah Omar lived within walking distance of US bases in Afghanistan for years, according to a new book that highlights embarrassing failures of American intelligence.

Washington believed the one-eyed, fugitive leader had fled to Pakistan, but the new biography says Omar was in fact living just three miles from a major US Forward Operating Base in his home province of Zabul before his death in 2013.

“Searching for an Enemy”, by Dutch journalist Bette Dam, reveals the Taliban chief lived as a virtual hermit, refusing visits from his family and filling notebooks with jottings in an imaginary language.

Dam spent more than five years researching the book and interviewed Jabbar Omari, Omar’s bodyguard who hid and protected him after the Taliban regime was overthrown.

According to the book, Omar listened to the BBC´s Pashto-language news broadcasts in the evenings, but even when he learned about the death of al-Qaeda supremo Osama Bin Laden rarely commented on developments in the outside world.

Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001 which led to the fall of the Taliban, the US put a $10 million bounty on Omar and he went into hiding in a small compound in the regional capital Qalat, Dam writes.

The family living at the compound were not told of the identity of their mystery guest, but US forces twice almost found him.

At one point, a US patrol approached as Omar and Omari were in the courtyard. Alarmed, the two men ducked behind a wood pile, but the soldiers passed without entering.

A second time, US troops even searched the house but did not uncover the concealed entrance to his secret room. It was not clear if the search was the result of a routine patrol or a tip-off.

Omar decided to move when the US started building Forward Operating Base Lagman in 2004, just a few hundred metres from his hideout.

He later moved to a second building but soon afterwards the Pentagon constructed Forward Operating Base Wolverine — home to 1,000 US troops, and where American and British special forces were sometimes based — close by.

Despite his terror at being caught, he dared not move again, rarely even going outside and often hiding in tunnels when US planes flew over.

According to Dam, Omar would often only talk to his guard and cook, and used an old Nokia mobile phone, without a sim card, to record himself chanting verses from the Holy Quran.

Omar’s Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, and has waged an anti-government insurgency since then.

Omar, who delegated effective Taliban leadership after 2001, appears to have acted as more of a spiritual leader, and the militant movement kept his death in 2013 secret for two years.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/taliban-leader-omar-lived-next-to-us-afghan-base-biography/feed/0Bill in US Congress seeks end to Afghan warhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/bill-in-us-congress-seeks-end-to-afghan-war/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/bill-in-us-congress-seeks-end-to-afghan-war/#respondFri, 08 Mar 2019 10:14:09 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=45814NEW YORK: Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would end the nearly two-decade-long Afghanistan War. The 2019 American Forces Going Home After Noble Service Act would have the United States declare victory in Afghanistan and set a 45-day deadline for a plan to withdraw all U.S. forces ...

NEW YORK: Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would end the nearly two-decade-long Afghanistan War.

The 2019 American Forces Going Home After Noble Service Act would have the United States declare victory in Afghanistan and set a 45-day deadline for a plan to withdraw all U.S. forces within a year, according to a statement accompanying the bill’s text.

It would also set a “framework for political reconciliation to be implemented by Afghans.”

Additionally, the legislation would require the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to be repealed at the end of the withdrawal. Passed in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the AUMF has come under political scrutiny in recent years as it is still used to bypass Congress in justifying military operations against terrorist groups.

And the bill would have the federal government pay, within one year, a $2,500 bonus to the more than 3 million military service members who have served in the war — a one-time cost of about $7 billion. That bonus would be “an immediate savings of over 83% when compared to the current yearly costs,” the statement says.

“Endless war weakens our national security, robs this and future generations through skyrocketing debt, and creates more enemies to threaten us,” Paul said in the statement.

“For over 17 years, our soldiers have gone above and beyond what has been asked of them in Afghanistan,” he added. “It is time to declare the victory we achieved long ago, bring them home, and put America’s needs first.”

Trump administration officials are currently in high-level negotiations with Taliban leadership to end America’s longest-running armed conflict.

The talks reportedly include a floated plan that would cut the roughly 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan by half within the next few months, with all troops withdrawn within the next three to five years.

Rand’s office notes that more than 2,300 service members have been killed since the start of the war in October 2001, with more than $2 trillion spent on the conflict.

Udall echoed the sentiment, arguing that U.S. service members will soon begin deploying to Afghanistan “to fight in a war that began before they were born.” “As we face this watershed moment, it’s past time to change our approach to the longest war in our country’s history,” he said.

The bill was quickly lauded by the Koch-backed Concerned Veterans for America, which said Paul and Udall “highlight a growing sense across the country that American military involvement in Afghanistan has run its course and potentially become counterproductive to our interests.”

The push to end the Afghanistan War appeared elsewhere in Congress on Tuesday, with a group of Democratic and progressive lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sponsoring a pledge from a veterans group to “end the forever war.”

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/bill-in-us-congress-seeks-end-to-afghan-war/feed/0Flash floods in southern Afghanistan kill at least 20http://theasianpost.co.uk/flash-floods-in-southern-afghanistan-kill-at-least-20/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/flash-floods-in-southern-afghanistan-kill-at-least-20/#respondSun, 03 Mar 2019 17:22:43 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=45605KANDAHAR: At least 20 people were killed by flash floods in southern Afghanistan´s Kandahar province, the UN said, as heavy rains swept away homes and vehicles and potentially damaged thousands of houses. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said widespread flooding inundated Kandahar city and surrounding districts in the province, with ...

KANDAHAR: At least 20 people were killed by flash floods in southern Afghanistan´s Kandahar province, the UN said, as heavy rains swept away homes and vehicles and potentially damaged thousands of houses.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said widespread flooding inundated Kandahar city and surrounding districts in the province, with 97mm of rain falling in affected areas in the last 30 hours.

“At least 10 people, including children, are still missing,” said the UN agency in a statement.

“It is anticipated that up to 2,000 homes may have been damaged”, with severe damage to infrastructure also being reported.

Kandahar´s deputy governor Abdul Hanan Moneeb said the flooding was the worst in at least seven years, with many nomadic herders camped in the area swept away by the floodwaters along with their livestock.

The official added that 400 families have been rescued by the Afghan army since the flooding began late Friday night.

Rescue operations, however, were largely delayed due to heavy rainfall, Raziq Shirzai, the provincial commander of the Afghan air force, told AFP.

Disasters such as avalanches and flash floods often hit mountainous areas and river valleys of Afghanistan as snow melts in the spring and summer. It is made worse by deforestation.

Heavy snowfall across large swathes of Afghanistan this winter has raised fears of severe flooding as spring approaches, following years of devastating drought in the country.

Nearly 50 people have been killed as of February 12 due to flooding in Afghanistan so far this year, according to the UN.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/flash-floods-in-southern-afghanistan-kill-at-least-20/feed/0Naib stars as Afghanistan down Ireland in 1st ODIhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/naib-stars-as-afghanistan-down-ireland-in-1st-odi/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/naib-stars-as-afghanistan-down-ireland-in-1st-odi/#respondFri, 01 Mar 2019 12:02:00 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=45550DEHRADUN: Gulbadin Naib starred with both bat and ball as Afghanistan outplayed Ireland by five wickets in the first one-day international. Naib took two wickets to help dismiss Ireland for 161 and then struck a crucial 46 as Afghanistan achieved their target in 41.5 overs in the north Indian city of Dehradun. Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad ...

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/naib-stars-as-afghanistan-down-ireland-in-1st-odi/feed/0Acting Pentagon chief arrives in Afghanistanhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/acting-pentagon-chief-arrives-in-afghanistan/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/acting-pentagon-chief-arrives-in-afghanistan/#respondMon, 11 Feb 2019 09:36:53 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44602KABUL: Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Afghanistan on a surprise visit Monday as the United States seeks to support the Kabul government while negotiating peace with the Taliban. Shanahan will meet President Ashraf Ghani, whose government was not part of major talks between US and Taliban officials last month that negotiators hope could ...

KABUL: Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Afghanistan on a surprise visit Monday as the United States seeks to support the Kabul government while negotiating peace with the Taliban.

Shanahan will meet President Ashraf Ghani, whose government was not part of major talks between US and Taliban officials last month that negotiators hope could bring a breakthrough in the grinding 17-year conflict.

The US diplomat leading the talks has expressed hope at finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July, as President Donald Trump calls for an end to American military involvement in the war-torn country.

The Taliban consider the Kabul administration a US puppet but Ghani’s allies in Washington insist Afghans should lead the peace process.

The months-long push by the US to engage the Taliban has ostensibly been aimed at convincing them to negotiate with Kabul.

The insurgents have also met with a high-ranking delegation of Afghan politicians– including chief Ghani rivals — in Moscow last week to discuss their role in the country’s future and a possible path towards peace.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/acting-pentagon-chief-arrives-in-afghanistan/feed/0World Bank offers Afghanistan $235 millionhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/world-bank-offers-afghanistan-235-million/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/world-bank-offers-afghanistan-235-million/#respondFri, 08 Feb 2019 15:50:02 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44462KABUL: The World Bank provided a grant of 235 million US dollars to Afghan government to support its efforts for development and stimulating growth in the country, Afghan Ministry of Finance reported on its website. Acting Minister of Finance Humayon Qayoumi and World Bank country director for Afghanistan Shubham Chaudhuri signed the new financial package, ...

KABUL: The World Bank provided a grant of 235 million US dollars to Afghan government to support its efforts for development and stimulating growth in the country, Afghan Ministry of Finance reported on its website.

Acting Minister of Finance Humayon Qayoumi and World Bank country director for Afghanistan Shubham Chaudhuri signed the new financial package, the ministry said in a statement.

“It will be implemented in line with the requirements and priorities of the government and the people of Afghanistan to support economic empowerment, service delivery and institutional reforms,” the acting finance minister was quoted as saying.

Out of the grant some 75 million US dollars will finance “the Tackling Afghanistan’s Government HRM (Human Resource Management) and Institutional Reforms (TAGHIR) project, which will strengthen the capacity of selected line ministries. The grant also includes 25 million US dollars from IDA (International Development Association) and 50 million US dollars from ARTF (Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund).”

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/world-bank-offers-afghanistan-235-million/feed/0Fresh sparks between bitter neighbourshttp://theasianpost.co.uk/fresh-sparks-between-bitter-neighbours/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/fresh-sparks-between-bitter-neighbours/#respondFri, 08 Feb 2019 06:26:49 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44443ISLAMABAD/KABUL: Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in a new confrontation on Thursday as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a controversial statement on Pakistan’s internal matters. In response, Pakistan urged Afghanistan’s leadership to pay attention to the issues of their own country rather than making statements against others. Rejecting the controversial tweet by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, ...

The Foreign Minister called upon Afghan leadership to focus on the long-standing grievances of Afghan people. “We reject the tweet by President Ashraf Ghani,” he tweeted.

Earlier, President Ghani expressed the Afghan government’s ‘concerns’ over the ‘violence perpetrated against peaceful protestors and civil activists in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan’.

“Afghan government has serious concerns about the violence perpetrated against peaceful protestors and civil activists in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he tweeted.

He added: “We believe it is moral responsibility of every government to support civil activities that take a stand against terrorism and extremism that plagues and threatens our region and collective security. Otherwise there could be long-standing negative consequences.”

Recently, Pakistan arranged ‘result-oriented’ US-Afghan Taliban dialogue in Qatar. The Afghan Taliban, however, refused to meet the representatives of the Afghan government.

Pakistan and the US are hoping to finalise the settlement of Afghanistan issue when their top leaders, Imran Khan and Donald Trump, possibly meet in the near future.

Recently, US President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan seeking Islamabad’s support in securing a ‘negotiated settlement’ to the war in Afghanistan.

This came as Washington stepped up efforts to hold peace talks with Taliban, more than 17 years after invasion of Afghanistan. In his letter, Trump said a settlement is ‘his most important regional priority’, the Pakistani foreign ministry stated. “In this regard, he has sought Pakistan’s support and facilitation”, it added.

In December, the US Special envoy on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had briefed Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi about the US President’s letter written to Prime Minister Imran Khan for getting Pakistan’s cooperation regarding Afghan reconciliation process. Khalilzad had also visited Pakistan in October in his current capacity.

Last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s special peace envoy Omer Daudzai said that the war that had ravaged Afghanistan for more than 17 years and cost the US about $1 trillion will end this year.

He, however, warned that unless the Taliban cooperate, there will not be peace. The Taliban have held several rounds of talks with the US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad but rejected direct talks with the Afghan government.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been pressing the Taliban to engage Afghan government in the talks. Daudzai said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘heart and mind is in the right place. We are hopeful. We have received all the right signals.’

Daudzai said: “I don’t want to get into the past, but in the present, there is much evidence that Pakistan is playing a positive role in Afghan peace talks. Pakistan’s attitude towards Afghanistan has also changed.”

The US had toppled Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. They had called off their meeting with the US officials in Saudi Arabia this week after Riyadh insisted to bring the Afghan government to the table. The talks will be the 4rth in a series between Taliban leaders and US special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad. Pakistan and Iran are trying to persuade the Taliban to meet Afghan officials.

The US, which sent troops to Afghanistan in the wake of September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington and at the peak of the deployment had more than 100,000 troops in the country, withdrew most of its forces in 2014. It keeps around 14,000 troops there as part of a NATO-led mission aiding Afghan security forces and hunting militants.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/fresh-sparks-between-bitter-neighbours/feed/0Two Afghan journalists killed in attack on radio stationhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/two-afghan-journalists-killed-in-attack-on-radio-station/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/two-afghan-journalists-killed-in-attack-on-radio-station/#respondThu, 07 Feb 2019 07:44:05 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44384KABUL: Two journalists were shot and killed when gunmen stormed their radio station in northeast Afghanistan, officials said, underscoring the dangers faced by reporters in the war-torn country. The pair, both men in their 20s, were gunned down inside the studios of Radio Hamsada, a private broadcaster based in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province. ...

KABUL: Two journalists were shot and killed when gunmen stormed their radio station in northeast Afghanistan, officials said, underscoring the dangers faced by reporters in the war-torn country.

The pair, both men in their 20s, were gunned down inside the studios of Radio Hamsada, a private broadcaster based in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack and an investigation was underway, provincial spokesman Jawad Hejri told AFP.

“Two unidentified gunmen entered the radio station´s office at around 6pm on Tuesday. They opened fire on two reporters who were behind their mics during a live programme. Both reporters died at the scene,” he said.

The attack is the second this year in Afghanistan targeting journalists, and comes as diplomatic efforts to end the 17-year war have intensified.

Last month, Afghan citizen journalist Jawid Noori was snatched from his car and murdered by the Taliban in Farah province in the country´s west.

2018 was the deadliest year on record for journalists in Afghanistan, according to Reporters Without Borders.

US ambassador to Kabul, John Bass, said he was “saddened and angered” by the killings.

“It is time to #EndImpunity for crimes against journalists. #PressFreedom,” he tweeted.

Amnesty International described the latest attack as a “horrific crime” and urged Afghan authorities to ensure protection for journalists so they could work safely.

“This attack once again highlights the risks journalists continue to face in Afghanistan for just doing their job,” the group´s South Asia researcher, Zaman Sultani, said in a statement.

Afghanistan´s Journalists Safety Committee called on the government to “identify the perpetrators and make sure that the justice is served.”

AFP´s chief photographer in Afghanistan, Shah Marai, was among 25 people killed along with eight other journalists in a bomb attack in April 2018.

Less than three months later, AFP driver Mohammad Akhtar was killed in another suicide attack on his way to work.

According to RSF, 60 journalists and media workers have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime and enabled independent media to blossom in its wake — an average of around three a year.

]]>http://theasianpost.co.uk/two-afghan-journalists-killed-in-attack-on-radio-station/feed/0Russia ‘closely cooperating’ with Pakistan in fight against terrorismhttp://theasianpost.co.uk/russia-closely-cooperating-with-pakistan-in-fight-against-terrorism/
http://theasianpost.co.uk/russia-closely-cooperating-with-pakistan-in-fight-against-terrorism/#respondSun, 03 Feb 2019 12:34:46 +0000http://theasianpost.co.uk/?p=44109MOSCOW on Friday reiterated that it is “closely cooperating” with Islamabad in the fight against terrorism and negotiating a political settlement in Afghanistan, reported Radio Pakistan. Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Maria Zhakharova made the comments during a weekly briefing and added that both countries share common concerns regarding the momentum being gained and the expansion ...

MOSCOW on Friday reiterated that it is “closely cooperating” with Islamabad in the fight against terrorism and negotiating a political settlement in Afghanistan, reported Radio Pakistan.

Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Maria Zhakharova made the comments during a weekly briefing and added that both countries share common concerns regarding the momentum being gained and the expansion of the militant Islamic State (IS).

“Great contribution is being made by all the countries bordering Afghanistan and Russia is a reliable partner of those countries in every effort to ensure the security of the borders,” said Zhakharova.

On January 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and emphasised on the importance of Islamabad’s role in bringing peace in war-torn Afghanistan.

Kabulov had appreciated Pakistan’s efforts towards working for a political solution in the region and was assured by Qureshi that Pakistan will keep striving for peace in neighbouring Afghanistan, as that is the only way to bring prosperity to the region.

Highlighting the role of neighbours and the regional countries in the peace process, FM Qureshi had also lauded the important contributions Russia had made including the “Moscow Format of Consultations”.

Ambassador Kabulov had further stated that Russia and Pakistan were important stakeholders in peace and stability in Afghanistan.

In December, Islamabad and Moscow agreed to continue efforts through “Moscow Format of Consultations”, for supporting what they called the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.

In August, Pakistan and Russia reached a historic agreement allowing officers from the country’s armed forces to train in Russia. The deal was concluded at the end of the inaugural meeting of Russia-Pakistan Joint Military Consultative Committee in Rawalpindi.